Compitum

P. De Leemans (éd.) Aristoteles, XVII 1 & XVII 2.II-III, De progressu animalium. Translatio Guillelmi de Morbeka / De motu animalium, Turnhout, 2010.

Éditeur : Brepols
Collection : Aristoteles Latinus
400 pages
ISBN : Ref. 02010241
175 € excl TVA

This volume offers the first critical edition of the medieval Latin translations of Aristotle's On the movement of animals (De motu animalium) and On the progression of animals (De progressu animalium).

It was in the translation by William of Moerbeke, made in the early sixties of the thirteenth century, that these texts were known to medieval readers. They circulated at the University of Paris as a part of Aristotle's Books on Animals (Book XI and XII respectively), but also figured in a collection of short Aristotelian and pseudo-Aristotelian treatises (including the physiological Parva Naturalia).The introduction first considers the textual tradition of these translations and then focuses on Moerbeke's Greek sources. It appears that, as in many other cases, Moerbeke continued to revise his initial translations. This is especially clear for De motu animalium, of which three chronologically distinct versions are extant.

Another translation of De motu animalium is only known indirectly, through Albert the Great's paraphrase De principiis motus processivi. Albert had based this paraphrase on a translation he had found during his travels "in Campania iuxta Greciam". This translation has since been lost. The edition attempts a reconstruction, based on a comparison of Albert's text to the Greek sources. The discovery of a Greek manuscript that is closely related to the model used by the anonymous translator appears to confirm the hypothesis that the translation was made in Southern Italy.